Mr. Smoosh feels like a throwback to the days of dead-simple, overwhelmingly cute, score-driven arcade games. It’d fit right in alongside games like Mappy and Bubble Bobble/Bust-a-Move. It walks a fine line between enjoyable accessibility and boring basic-ness but manages to stay on the fun side most of the time.

Set on a sun-drenched tropical island Mr. Smoosh is just about taking the squishy titular hero as high up as he can go. When Mr. Smoosh bounces off of the island below he can then bounce off of the cascading bubbles above it. Using the bubbles is key as bouncing off of the island too often causes it to deform and shrink. By chaining these bounces together and making use of power-ups like feathers and rocket boosts Mr. Smoosh can even reach the stars. However, falling onto the occasional spiked enemy usually launches Mr. Smoosh into a watery grave. Skilled players can use these enemies to their advantage but it’s a risky strategy. Luckily, the tilt controls do an excellent job at allowing players to smoothly steer the bounce trajectory. That’s really it though. Mr. Smoosh is old-school in that survival and high scores are what it’s all about. There’s a robust achievement system as well but the primary reason to play the game is to get the satisfaction of playing it well.

The light, pick up and play sensibility is complimented by the breezy tropical visual style and music. Mr. Smoosh runs on Unity but the use of 3D graphics is subtle, adding pleasant amounts of depth to colorful sunny world. While there is only one background at least it changes as the day goes on. Animations are great as well. Bouncing motions are a hallmark of classic cartoons and Mr. Smoosh himself can bounce with the best of them.

Mr. Smoosh is like a needed vacation. It doesn’t last forever and if it overstayed its welcome its more shallow qualities would become more obvious. However, as a brief break from reality it’s a blast.

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